


Renjun and the Notepad That Made Him Choose

by leehiro



Series: The Cursed Notebook [2]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, M/M, and how he likes two people at the same time you know the drill, as for chensung well, hansol and tae are just mentioned tho sorry, okay so this is about renjun and his feelings, sicheng and jaehyun are part of the story but not actively, you'll just have to read it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-20
Updated: 2017-08-20
Packaged: 2018-12-17 12:35:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11851683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leehiro/pseuds/leehiro
Summary: To Renjun, love came easily through Jeno, almost as naturally as breathing, but it was also bumpy and difficult with Jaemin, out of fear and pain. But most importantly, love came to Renjun through hugs. And that one moment in his bedroom, hugging two of the most important people in his life, reminded him of the last hug his own brother gave him, in the beginning of his third year right before boarding the Hogwarts Express. But while his hug was one of ‘I’ll miss you’s and ‘see you soon’s, and it reminded Renjun of fond memories and the past, Jaemin and Jeno’s hug was one of ‘I missed you’s and ‘I’m glad you’re here’s, and it made Renjun excited for their future together and for the memories they were yet to make. It’s only logical, isn’t it? Fate does like to play, but it also likes to set things right.





	Renjun and the Notepad That Made Him Choose

**Author's Note:**

> I'm finally back!  
> I want to apologize for taking so long to finish this, but a few personal problems showed up and I had to delay writing for a bit.  
> I hope you enjoy this as much as liked writing it!

                Renjun had always been a quiet kid. When he got his Hogwarts letter, his parents were more ecstatic than him. To the young Chinese boy, it was only logical he’d get into Hogwarts, since his parents were wizards. He had lived among magic all his life, so the letter was no surprise to him. After a few months of waiting and preparing for his first school year, Huang Renjun crossed platform 9¾ for the first time, and took the magic train to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

                Everything was going well. He was alone in his carriage, but who needs people when the views from the train entertained him to the fullest. And the chocolate frogs, too. It’s not like he could talk to them, either. Night had fallen, they were almost at the school, and Renjun felt incredibly tired, so he lied down to nap a little before they got to the school and went through the sorting ceremony and the loud, rambunctious dinner that would follow it. However, after closing his eyes and adjusting his body into a somewhat comfortable position, he found that it was too cold for him to sleep. He’d already changed into his first-year robes, which were so warm he’d spent most of the train ride without his cape. But now, even with the cape serving as a blanket, he still felt himself shivering. He opened one of his eyes and looked to the window, noticing he’d left it open. With a groan, he got up from his seat and stood in front of it, clasping his cape around his shoulders tightly. The night view was beautiful, and Renjun found himself amazed by every new piece of scenery uncovered by the train’s headlights. He didn’t deny himself the urge to put his head over the window and feel the wind on his face, tousling his dark raven hair and bringing tears to his eyes, and he felt happy. He couldn’t wait to see how Hogwarts looked like, after all, it was his brother’s favourite place in the world.

                Right, his brother. Renjun averted his eyes from the scenery, choosing to close the window and lie back down on his seat. Hogwarts had been his brother’s favourite place, but it was also a place full of bad memories of him. The raven haired boy shook his head and closed his eyes, trying his best to sleep and forget.

________________

                Renjun got sorted into Ravenclaw.

                He was half expecting to be a Hufflepuff, given his family’s tradition, but he wasn’t disappointed. Ravenclaws were logical people, right? He would fit right in, he thought. And he was right. But the funny thing was, he didn’t actually find close friends in Ravenclaw. In fact, he found his best friends in all of the other houses. He also found love. Not that he’d admit it at the time, but he did. He found more love than he had bargained for, too. Fate liked funny things, and apparently Renjun’s life was _hilarious_.

                Renjun found love in two different but still meaningful ways. The first culprit went by the name of Lee Jeno. He met Jeno that very night, on his first train ride to Hogwarts, and when Jeno didn’t question why Renjun wrote instead of speaking, the older knew they’d be good friends. Loving Jeno was surprisingly normal, too. Renjun didn’t even notice it until a key point in his life: his third year of school.

                Like his own brother, Jeno was a Hufflepuff. Like his own brother, he played Quiddich as a seeker. And like his own brother, he had a rival in Gryffindor, Na Jaemin, who matched Jung Jaehyun. Renjun himself was a quiddich player, but once again Fate was playing a trick on him, and Jeno’s life looked much like Sicheng’s.

                Except Sicheng wasn’t living anymore.

                Jeno had actually gotten mad at him for the most part of their third year, and Na Jaemin, who at the time was more friends with Donghyuck and Mark, although separately -sigh, those two were worse than children - than with the two of them, gave him a lot of curious looks, but Renjun had a feeling something bad would happen if Jeno played that year. He tried begging the boy, bribing him, sabotaging his practises, but it didn’t work. Jeno was as stubborn as a Gryffindor and he didn’t like being told to stop doing what he loved over a “bad feeling”. Five minutes before the final match of the Quiddich Cup of that year began, Renjun dragged Jeno into a locker room and handed him his notebook.

                “What’s this?” Fourteen-year-old Jeno asked, momentarily forgetting that Renjun couldn’t speak. At the older’s sceptic expression, he glanced down to the paper which read ‘This is why I don’t want you to play today’. The Hufflepuff opened the notebook with a sigh, but he wasn’t expecting the story I’m about to recount.

Huang Sicheng had been one of the most promising Quiddich players of his time at Hogwarts, and he dreamed of becoming a professional one after graduating. Renjun had always looked up to him, so much that he dreamed of becoming a Quiddich player too and someday play alongside his brother. The older was in his third year in Hufflepuff, and the final match of the Quiddich Cup that year was against Gryffindor. Usually it would be Slytherin taking the badgers place, but after their caption, Ji Hansol, graduated the year before, the team was finding it hard to replace him. To say Sicheng had been nervous at the time was an understatement. He had only been playing since the year before, but Hufflepuff’s team was short on senior members and Lee Taeyong had assured him he was just right for this game. His problem was Jung Jaehyun. Jaehyun had been Sicheng’s rival for everything since their first year, and quiddich was no exception. They both played seeker, both were very skilled and both wanted to win no matter what.

By the last minutes of the game, the two teams were tied. Then, more than ever, the seekers fought for the golden snitch and for the end of the game. The other players had been tired and their hopes were on the two third years chasing each other while looking for the small, golden ball. When the snitch appeared in the middle of them, they didn’t hesitate, choosing to dive in and hope the other one wouldn’t be dumb enough to do the same. They overestimated each other.

Jaehyun and Sicheng slammed into each other violently, the snitch escaping at the last second, and fell to the ground. In an act of what Renjun was told – and still forces himself to believe - was out of fear and self-preservation and not lingering feelings of rivalry, Jaehyun, noticing the Hufflepuff was unconscious, used the young player’s body to cushion his fall. Later, the Gryffindor would explain that he was sure the other wouldn’t get badly hurt and that he’d get fixed up in the infirmary and Jaehyun would be able to continue the game, something Sicheng hadn’t already been able to since he was unconscious. He was certain the other would do the same, after all they were both purebloods and knew that broken bones could easily be mended. What he didn’t expect was Sicheng to hit his head on the ground hard enough to snap his neck. He was killed on impact.

Renjun wasn’t there, but to him, imagining it was much worse. The Headmaster himself had come to their house and explained the situation that very day, and Renjun remembers crying and screaming so hard his throat went numb and his voice hoarse. During the following days, it only got worse. He attended his brother’s funeral with his parents, but he hadn’t been able to speak at the ceremony, or to thank the people’s condolences. It got to the point where he didn’t speak at all, even after his throat healed. Renjun was quiet by nature, and he liked writing, so that became his main method of communication, and in the three years that passed he hadn’t uttered a single word.

Jeno had been shocked, to say the least, and he offered Renjun the tightest hug the Ravenclaw had ever received. _That’s_ when he fell in love. That very moment, in a messy locker room minutes before Jeno’s most important game of that year, Renjun had the sudden realisation that the reason he was so fearful, the reason he’d tried everything to stop the Hufflepuff from playing, the reason he’d told him his biggest secret, was because he loved him. To Renjun, their hug lasted for hours, but in reality it was only a few seconds, bordering on a minute. Jeno had a game to play, after all, and the crestfallen look on Renjun’s face almost made him give up. With a bright smile and determination in his crescent moon eyes, Jeno handed the notebook back to the Ravenclaw, and promised him he would win without getting hurt.

During that game, Jeno caught the snitch, and Hufflepuff won the House Cup. Jaemin was surprisingly happy for someone who lost so close to winning, but Renjun was too busy celebrating and sighing in relief to notice it. Jeno had been so happy at that moment, he even gave his third-year game jersey to Renjun, and that night the Ravenclaw held it to sleep the same way he’d done with Sicheng’s own jersey the day he died. Except this time, he wasn’t sad, he was so happy he let out a little breathless laugh. It had been his first sound in three years, so quiet not even Renjun himself had noticed it until he was almost asleep, and the fact that Jeno had caused it brought a smile to his face, allowing him to sleep soundly.

After that day, Jeno became more protective of the Ravenclaw, but their relationship didn’t change. Although Renjun had figured it all out, the Hufflepuff didn’t seem to have the faintest idea of his feelings, and the older wasn’t about to tell him. They finished their third year smoothly, and Renjun couldn’t wait to spend another year by Jeno’s side, especially after their third was so bumpy. The Ravenclaw would do anything to guarantee their fourth year would go just fine. Except, Fate likes to play with him.

On the beginning of their fourth year, Jeno became friends with Na Jaemin.

________________

If loving Jeno felt as normal as breathing, the road to loving Jaemin was long, awkward, uncomfortable and overall weird. Renjun had found it strange at first, Jeno and Jaemin’s friendship, but it had been only logical, a matter of time. After all, they were on the same friend group. According to Jeno, Jaemin had been so impressed with his skills during their last game that he approached him on the first day of their fourth year and asked him to practice together. The Hufflepuff agreed immediately, as long as Renjun could come with them, to which Jaemin concurred. And that’s how Renjun’s streak of third-wheeling began.

He could see it, the way Jaemin laughed at all of Jeno’s jokes, how he stared at him whenever the Hufflepuff was talking, and how he cheered him during their practises. Was Renjun that obvious too? He hoped he wasn’t, he didn’t even know how Jeno hadn’t figured it out yet, how Jaemin was _so_ whipped Renjun wasn’t even jealous. In fact, he thought it was only logical. Jeno was good looking, kind, smart and overall a really nice person. Everyone liked him, and Jaemin was obviously no exception. To be fair, he wasn’t either.

The fact that he actually found the two of them cute was pushed to the back of his mind.

________________

Renjun liked Mark. His friend was so nice Renjun had mistaken him for a Hufflepuff the first time they met. If Jeno hadn’t been his best friend since day one, he would’ve probably grown really close to Mark. But there was only one problem with his friend.

Mark was the worst at giving love advice. And in their fourth year he and Donghyuck had been in some kind of cold war and Renjun couldn’t ask for help from the Slytherin for that would be breaking Mark’s trust. Although Donghyuck had been in love with Mark since his first year and they weren’t even friends, so his love advice probably wasn’t much better. But they were both Jaemin’s friends, and the Gryffindor had been trying to speak with Renjun for over a week and he was _scared_. Scared because Jaemin was nice, funny, and very charming, but he liked Jeno. They _both_ liked Jeno, and if they became friends and Jeno chose one of them it would break their friendship and the Ravenclaw didn’t want that. But Jaemin was stubborn, and Mark told him to just ‘go with it, what’s the worst that could happen’, and Donghyuck shook his head whenever he saw Renjun crouching behind his Potion’s worktable in order to avoid being spotted by the Gryffindor, while Jeno just laughed and greeted Jaemin with his usual crescent moon smile. Renjun kept his distance, even after noticing the sad looks Jaemin threw him or how he sighed whenever they passed each other in the hall and the Ravenclaw didn’t greet him, but if was for a good cause. Someday, Jeno would realize they liked him and their friendship would be over, so it was better if it didn’t even start.

Renjun knew he had been right all along when Jeno invited him to the Yule Ball.

He invited him as a friend, of course, but the Ravenclaw was ecstatic anyways. To him, it showed that Jeno still valued their friendship, and maybe – he dared to think – he wanted to take it a little further. Of course, the Triwizard Tournament had been suspended after Cedric Diggory’s – Jeno’s role model – death, but the Ball was kept as a tradition, and it was held on Christmas in every wizarding school. It was the first time Renjun could attend one, and to be Jeno’s ‘partner’ made him all the more excited. The problem was Jaemin.

The Gryffindor hadn’t seemed all that sad, even after hearing Jeno and him discussing the Ball. Renjun feared Jaemin was hiding his sadness and hating him in secret, seeing as the younger stopped his endless attempts to talk to him. It was all so illogical, didn’t Jaemin like Jeno? Renjun was sure of it, but sometimes he caught Jaemin looking at someone else with that star struck, puppy-love look in his eyes.

He caught Jaemin staring at him like that.

Maybe it was Jaemin’s normal look and he had misunderstood it all? Renjun didn’t really know what to think, so he forced himself not to think about it at all. At least, not until the Yule Ball. Because as much as fate liked to mess with him, apparently Lee Jeno _loved_ it.

When Renjun got to the entrance of the Ball, dressed in a simple black suit with his family’s traditional robes on top, he found Jeno waiting for him with a sweet smile on his face. He too, was dressed in traditional clothing, but Renjun found it fit him much better. Jeno had enough muscle to not resemble a dressed-up corpse, like Renjun did, not to mention he stood like a proper gentleman, back straight and looking forward. His eyes shone brighter than the fairy lights, Renjun thought, and those were actual _fairies_ shining. The Ravenclaw had never felt happier than at that single moment, with Jeno’s whole attention on him, even if he only considered them friends. For Renjun, it was enough.

What he wasn’t expecting was for Jeno to lead him through the ballroom to where Jaemin was standing, chatting animatedly with Donghyuck who, as soon as he saw them, left the Gryffindor to go tease Mark.

_What are you doing_ , Renjun wanted to ask, but Jeno wasn’t looking at him anymore, too focused in chatting with Jaemin. That’s when he realized it. Jaemin hadn’t been bothered at all with Renjun being Jeno’s date because he wasn’t his date. He was his wingman. Jeno wanted Jaemin, but he was too shy to ask him to the Ball, so he took Renjun instead, deciding to simply spend time with Jaemin there. Well then, he shouldn’t bother them anymore. Using his muteness as an excuse, he slipped away from the two and headed towards the food table, trying hard to look busy while choosing something to eat. After about ten minutes of mindlessly walking around and trying different foods, he was interrupted in the middle of trying a weird looking stew by a hand grabbing his wrist. He turned around with a start, facing Donghyuck’s confused expression.

“What are you doing here by yourself? Where’s Jeno?” He asked, and it took Renjun about five seconds to find the Hufflepuff, still at the same spot, laughing along with Jaemin. He pointed it out to Donghyuck, who sighed. “I’m sorry, man.” Renjun shrugged, trying to look unbothered, but the Slytherin’s pitiful look told him he hadn’t been successful. He spent the rest of the night with Donghyuck and occasionally Mark - who only stopped by to fill Renjun’s punch cup -, trying to avoid being seen by Jeno or Jaemin. He wasn’t mad at the Hufflepuff, in fact, he felt a bit guilty towards him, since his friend ended up spending half of the Ball searching for him, even after Donghyuck told him he was in the bathroom. He couldn’t blame Jaemin either. Renjun was the one who, even after promising himself to think of him and Jeno strictly as friends, got hurt because of his own feelings.

So, when Jeno met him in the mess hall the next day and apologized profusely for letting him out of his sight the day before, telling him to let him know next time he planned on leaving so he wouldn’t get worried, Renjun smiled, nodded, and placed a reassuring hand on his friend’s shoulder, and, when Jaemin waved at him in the halls between classes, he waved back, stifling his laugh when Jaemin almost tripped and fell onto another student passing by and then quickly waving back at him with the widest smile he’d ever seen. Now that Jeno had made his choice, there was no reason for Renjun to keep his distance. Just one look at his pretty grin and he knew he could never hate the Gryffindor. Like the muggle saying goes, if you can’t beat them, join them.

The road to loving Jaemin was bumpy at first, but getting to know him was not. Jaemin wasn’t a shy kid, and he didn’t mind that Renjun could speak or laugh at his jokes. He waited patiently for Renjun to write and never once made him feel uncomfortable for doing it. Jeno joined them sometimes, but in a span of a few days they could perfectly hold a conversation just the two of them. Their friendship grew very fast, and Renjun realised he was going to fall for Jaemin before he even did.

Even though Renjun was counting on it for the rest of their fourth year, Jeno and Jaemin never did officially get together at the time. No matter how many times their friends teased them, Jeno would deny everything with his usual tight-lipped smile, whereas Jaemin would shrug it off with a laugh. Renjun felt restless. He couldn’t confess to any of them because he was sure they liked each other, and he couldn’t move on because even though it was logical, and he could see it with his own eyes, every time Jeno denied they were dating, Renjun felt a wave of relief rushing through him, and had to bite back a smile. He felt hope, just a tiny bit of it, that somehow, they weren’t only looking at each other. Jeno had always been protective with him, mostly because of his handicap, but also because he _wanted_ to. As for Jaemin, he’d grown used to seeing that special smile, the one the Gryffindor used to always save for Jeno, directed at him.

Maybe, he thought, they were looking at him, too.

________________

Their fifth year was pretty uneventful. That year, Renjun was made vice-captain of his house’s quiddich team. Gryffindor had Mark and Hufflepuff and Slytherin had other sixth-year students to fill the position, but not Ravenclaw. Being the vice-captain gave him a lot of work, but he also got to play more, especially when Ravenclaw headed to finals against Slytherin. Luckily for him, Donghyuck didn’t play quiddich, so he didn’t feel bad for completely destroying them. In fact, he had to. After all, he had admirers watching.

Jeno and Jaemin, along with the rest of their friend group, came to watch the final game of the season. After that game during their third year, Slytherin got back on track and Hufflepuff never made it to finals again, losing immediately in the first round, so Jeno wasn’t really bothered. As for Mark, he was pretty upset about it, this being Gryffindor’s first year to not make it into finals for a while, and it had to happen when he’d just become vice-captain as well. Jaemin, however, wasn’t the least bothered. Adhering to what Renjun understood was a ‘sacred muggle tradition’, the Gryffindor entered the bleachers with several cardboard signs, filled with paint and some weird thing called ‘glitter’ that sticks to you whenever you try to touch it, with sentences written on them, such as ‘Go Renjun!!’ or ‘Renjun is the best!!’. The Ravenclaw found it incredibly embarrassing, but he didn’t have the heart to tell Jaemin, not when the boy looked so proud of his work, a smirk on his face as he gave each of their friends one of the signs and told them to hold them up high during the game, even if the people in the back complained about it.

Renjun decided that while the posters seemed embarrassing up close, out on the field they were his guiding light. Whenever he felt tired or his team was losing, he’d look at the flashy cardboards and Jaemin would holler like a fangirl, while Jeno smiled and shouted his name. In the end, Ravenclaw lost, but the coach said Renjun played well, and his friends still celebrated from the bleachers (he forgave Jisung’s squeal of happiness at Slytherin’s win because it was his own house after all, and also because it had been really cute). When Renjun got out of the locker room dressed in his usual robes, he was surprised to see his two friends waiting for him.

“Mark and the others went ahead to get us a table at the Hall. We have to celebrate your first final as vice-captain!” Jeno informed him animatedly. Renjun searched through his pockets, finding his small roll of parchment and his quill, and wrote _I didn’t win though._

“Who cares? We should celebrate anyways!” Jaemin answered, and Jeno agreed with a nod. Renjun smiled at them, remembering his third year, when he’d been so afraid of Jeno getting hurt to the point he didn’t want him to play. If he hadn’t won, Jeno probably wouldn’t have become friends with Jaemin, and neither would’ve Renjun. He suddenly remembered how Jeno had given him his jersey after that game, and he hurried to take his own out of his sports bag.

“Renjun, we should hurry, the others are waiting.” Jaemin mumbled impatiently, but Renjun took his time to find his jersey and write a note on his notebook, ripping it and handing it to his friends. _I only have one, so you’ll have to share it._ As they read the note, Renjun waited nervously with his jersey in his hands. If they didn’t accept it, then he had probably been seeing their relationship all wrong. But Jaemin let out a laugh and hugged him, Jeno following suite. The Ravenclaw let out his small, breathless laugh, the same one he’d done two years before, making the two boys stop abruptly.

“You…” Jaemin began. “You just laughed.” Then, his eyes widened as he realized what he’d just said. “You just laughed! Renjun, you laughed!” He yelled out in glee, jumping up and down, Renjun still in his arms and _oh._ Why does love always come to him in the form of hugs? Jaemin hugged him as tight as Jeno had two years ago, with the same happy atmosphere surrounding them, and Renjun felt like a thirteen-year-old kid again. His eyes widened as he realized Jeno was right there, and he was hugging his possible crush. He slowly broke the hug with Jaemin and sneaked a look at the Hufflepuff, but he was looking at the two of them with bright eyes and a smile. Renjun wasn’t sure what he meant, but he didn’t look upset, so that was a start.

“I can’t believe it.” Jeno whispered, his crescent moon smile coming to view. “You’re getting better, Renjun.” He concluded, and Jaemin agreed excitedly, rambling about how he wanted to hear Renjun say their names, and how he wanted to know if he was a good singer, and how he wanted to hear his actual laugh. Renjun didn’t want to break the Gryffindor’s excitement by telling him this had only been the second time he’d laughed in two years, and that he hadn’t been able to progress from that, but he did feel better. He wasn’t sure if his voice would ever come back, but he felt like there was a chance, just like there was a chance for the three of them.

________________

                Their sixth year. That damned notebook. Renjun should’ve never touched it. Now Mark’s curse went to him. Well, it kind of worked out in Mark’s case, but his was impossible. He was stuck between his two best friends and he didn’t want to let any of them go, but the ripped notepad asked him to pick only one name. The Ravenclaw eyed the work out leather case fallen on the ground, and picked it up with a sigh. Maybe if he tried to put it back together, the curse would fade? Since Renjun couldn’t say the spell out loud, he took his wand and conjured _Reparo_ in his mind, but nothing happened. He gave up after two more tries, convinced that Mark was right and that damned notebook was cursed. What if it was like Tom Riddle’s diary? He remembers it from the stories, how the book would write to Harry Potter and answer him whenever the Gryffindor wrote back. This was bad, maybe Renjun should just get rid of it and go on with his life. And that’s what he did. He grabbed his broomstick, flew to the Great Lake, dropped the notebook from the air and made it back in time for dinner at the Great Hall.

                He wasn’t really surprised when the notebook showed up on top of his bed when he returned to the dorms. So, he did the next best thing. He asked Mark about it.

________________

                “Renjun, that thing’s cursed. I told you not to touch it!” Mark yelped as soon as Renjun showed him the notebook.

_It worked out for you, though_ , the Ravenclaw wrote on his usual parchment, making Mark blush in embarrassment. “T-True, but it could’ve gone wrong too! Just, don’t wish for anything, and stop touching it!” Renjun shook his head and opened the notebook, hearing Mark gasp in surprise. The older read the sentence written on the notepad with a pensive look on his face, but a smirk quickly occupied its place. “I see what this is! You don’t know who to choose, right?” Renjun blushed, but nodded reluctantly. “Then just don’t do anything. Maybe the curse will pass onto someone else with time.” The Gryffindor shrugged. Well, that was what he was planning on doing. Mark suddenly looked up from the notebook and stretched his arm, waving it. Renjun looked back and saw Donghyuck walking towards them, a wide smile on his face. Ever since the two of them got together, the Slytherin looked happy all the time. He sat down next to Mark and immediately noticed the notebook opened in front of them.

“Is that…” He looked at Mark, who nodded. “What are you doing with this thing again?”

“Oh, it’s not me. Renjun’s got it.”

“Renjun, why are you carrying this around? It’s a cursed object!” Renjun rolled his eyes at Donghyuck’s stern words. _It’s not like I wanted to have it._

“Read what it says, on the notepad.” Mark nudged the Slytherin, who put away his books to read the one sentence. Then, he leaned back, eyes wide. “Woah, you really are an unlucky person, dude. What are you going to-” All of a sudden, Donghyuck looked up with a start and nudged Mark, who looked up with the same expression. Renjun wasn’t really getting it, so he turned around towards the door to see their four other friends walking to their table. More importantly, Jeno and Jaemin were there. He looked at his two friends, and in a silent agreement they closed the notebook, hid it back inside Renjun’s bag, and his two friends pretended to be talking about their classes. If either of the two boys found out, they might try to open the notebook, which would involve touching it, and probably passing on the curse to them.

Jeno eyed him strangely as he sat down, and the Ravenclaw was afraid he’d been discovered, but his friend didn’t say anything, instead asking if he’d eaten. Renjun nodded with a tight smile and sighed in relief as Jeno started conversation with his friends. Jaemin hadn’t even noticed, but he did try to steal Renjun’s bag a few times to copy his DADA homework, but the Ravenclaw wasn’t having it. They’d end up doing homework together, anyways.

________________

                Jisung and Chenle found out when Renjun asked them to keep his bag while he went to the bathroom. Admittedly, it was a stupid move, especially with Jisung involved. The Slytherin liked pranking their friends, and Renjun just left his bag with him, it was only logical the younger would go through it.

                “So,” Jisung waved the notebook at Renjun, as the older turned around and tried to outrun him, but Chenle was faster and grabbed his arm with a sweet smile. “You’re the next victim?” Renjun nodded with a dejected sigh, trying to avoid Jisung’s mockery, but the younger handed the notebook back to him with a serious look in his eyes. “There’s two ways to get rid of it: write a name on it and let the book do it’s thing, or stop being a coward and do it yourself.” Chenle looked at his friend in confusion, but Jisung just grabbed his hand and walked away, leaving Renjun alone, his body just outside the bathroom but his mind worlds away. That’s how Jaemin found him, looking lost in the middle of the hall, a notebook in one of his hands and his bag on the other.

                “Renjun?” He tried, but the other didn’t answer. He moved closer, right in front of him, and waved his hand in front of his face. “Renjun, wake up!” Suddenly, the Ravenclaw blinked, and jerked back, surprised to see Jaemin so close, but the Gryffindor walked even closer, a worried look in his eyes. “Renjun, are you okay? How long have you been standing here for?” Renjun nodded at the first question, and looked at his wrist watch to find it’d been over ten minutes. Noticing the notebook on his hands, he hurriedly put it back on his bag, ignoring Jaemin’s curious looks. “What are you hiding?” The Gryffindor asked, making him shake his head vigorously. Jaemin looked at him suspiciously. “You’re hiding something, don’t lie to me. I’m going to find out what it is.” Renjun’s eyes widened, and he hugged his bag closer, not missing Jaemin’s glance at it. Instead, he took Renjun’s hand and pulled him along. “For now, let’s go and get lunch.”

________________

                He should’ve expected Jaemin to confront him after the bathroom incident, but he hadn’t been ready to enter his room after dinner that day and be faced with Jaemin and Jeno sitting on his bed, serious looks on their faces. The Ravenclaw gulped, reaching for his parchment and quill.

                _You’re not supposed to be here. Curfew’s soon._

                “We don’t care about curfew.” Jaemin scoffed. “You tell him, Jeno.” Jeno nodding beside him. Renjun almost wanted to laugh. Jaemin was trying to look intimidating, arms crossed and menacing expression, but Jeno wasn’t good at conflicts, so was just sitting on the bed staring up at him like he was only there for moral support.

                “We’re worried about you, Renjun.” Jeno started cautiously. “You’ve been acting weird, and Jaemin’s sure you’re hiding something in that bag of yours.” The Hufflepuff gestured to Renjun’s bag, which was hanging off his shoulder, making the Ravenclaw hug it to his chest with a frown. Jaemin huffed impatiently and got up from the bed, standing right in front of the older.

                “Why don’t you just show it to us? You’re terrible at keeping secrets, dude. We’re bound to find out soon anyways.” The Gryffindor persuaded, and Renjun took out the notebook with a dejected sigh. As Jaemin moved to grab it, Renjun took it out of his reach, afraid that the curse would spread to him. With his usual parchment and quill, he wrote down an explanation.

                _This is the same notebook Mark had, so don’t touch it! I’ve been hiding it because of what’s inside, but it doesn’t matter because I’m not going to use it. I just didn’t want you to touch it out of curiosity._

                “Well, but what’s inside it then?” Jeno mused. Renjun opened the notebook slowly, the notepad facing his friends so that they could read the single sentence on it.

_The person whose name you write on this book will fall in love with you._

                “Oh...”

                “Uhm...”

                “So…”

                “…You’re not going to use it?” Jaemin bravely asked, and Renjun shook his head and stored the notebook back on his bag. “Why not?”

                _It’s a cursed notebook, Jaemin, I’m not going to do what it says. Plus, it may all just be a prank, and then everyone would find out whose name I wrote there._

                “Well sure, it’s cursed, but it worked on Mark, right? He asked for Donghyuck and he got him.” Jeno reasoned.

                “Jeno’s right, you should try it.” Jaemin agreed, and the room grew silent for a few seconds. Then, in a spurt of courage, Jaemin addressed the elephant in the room. “So, whose name would you write?”

                _What?_

                “You said- _wrote_ that if it was a prank, everyone would find out whose name you wrote. Well, who is it?”

                _No one._

                “Don’t get all defensive on us, Renjun. You’re a bad liar, even when writing. Come on, we promise we won’t make fun of you or anything.” Jaemin pressed, but Renjun kept silent. Confessing to them right there would be the last thing he’d ever do. He wasn’t ready, not now.

He wanted to say it, not write it.

_I told you, it’s no one. That’s why I’m not going to use it._

“Renjun,” Jeno sighed, also getting up from the bed. “do you trust us?” The Ravenclaw’s eyes widened. He wasn’t expecting Jeno to guilt trip him into telling the truth.

_You know I do._

“We’ve been friends for years, I’m sure you can tell us who she is.” The Hufflepuff smiled, but Renjun noticed his eyes weren’t sparkling. That meant it was fake. Why would Jeno fake a smile towards him?

“Come on, just write her name down, and if it works great! If it doesn’t, we’ll just help you out another way.” Jaemin added, but even his words seemed forced. Renjun didn’t understand why they were lying to him, but he figured he should tell the truth for once. He tried to be logical. If it didn’t work out, he’d just have to live through one more year at Hogwarts without his best friends, and then he’d get on with his life and forget all about it. If it did work… Renjun didn’t want to daydream about it. He took his quill once more, his hand shaking slightly, and wrote his words carefully.

_It’s not a she. It’s not one person either. I can’t write a name because I want two people and I can’t choose between them, so I won’t._

“Renjun, you-”

“You like two people?!” Jaemin screeched. “Are we in a drama or something? Who are they? Renjun, you’re such main character material!” Wow, even Jaemin’s usual fanboying seemed fake. Renjun sighed in annoyance and rolled up his parchment, throwing it to the ground. Then, he closed his eyes and concentrated. Just one little word and everything would be over. He could do this.

“…You.” It was said quietly, his voice just above a whisper, but the two boys in front of him heard it loud and clear. Jeno was the first to react, moving closer to Renjun and placing his hands on his shoulders.

“Renjun, you just spoke!” The Hufflepuff yelped and exclaimed childishly, “Say it again!” Renjun drew in a breath, and closed his eyes.

“…You!” He uttered, but Jeno heard it, and hugged him tightly.

“You did it! You’re speaking!” Jeno kept celebrating, Renjun laughing alongside him, but they soon noticed Jaemin’s quietness. The Gryffindor was still trying to process what was going on, his eyes seeming lost and his whole body frozen.

“Jaemin?” Jeno called out, reaching out to touch him in the arm. With the Hufflepuff’s touch, Jaemin seemed to come alive again, his eyes regaining focus. He stared at Renjun with a serious expression.

“Renjun, you said ‘you’.” The Ravenclaw nodded shyly, already anticipating Jaemin’s next question. “By ‘you’, you mean us? Jeno and I?” Jeno looked at him, his eyes finally regaining their sparkle, and Renjun couldn’t lie to them, not when he was so close to getting what he wanted. So he looked Jaemin in the eye and nodded determinately. He didn’t even have time to think of the consequences of his action before he was crushed into the tightest hug he’d ever received, tighter than Jeno’s three years ago and tighter than Jaemin’s own hug the year before. Renjun hugged him back just as tightly, and he suddenly felt a weight slightly on top of him, looking to the side to see Jeno hugging them both. This was it. This was love.

To Renjun, love came easily through Jeno, almost as naturally as breathing, but it was also bumpy and difficult with Jaemin, out of fear and pain. But most importantly, love came to Renjun through hugs. And that one moment in his bedroom, hugging two of the most important people in his life, reminded him of the last hug his own brother gave him, in the beginning of his third year right before boarding the Hogwarts Express. But while his hug was one of ‘I’ll miss you’s and ‘see you soon’s, and it reminded Renjun of fond memories and the past, Jaemin and Jeno’s hug was one of ‘I missed you’s and ‘I’m glad you’re here’s, and it made Renjun excited for their future together and for the memories they were yet to make. It’s only logical, isn’t it? Fate does like to play, but it also likes to set things right.

________________

Park Jisung walked into his room at the Slytherin dorms with a contempt smile. He heard from his housemate Donghyuck that Renjun had taken up on his advice and confessed that very day, and that he, Jaemin and Jeno were now together. All of his plans were working out, he thought proudly. First, Mark got the notebook and ended up confessing to Donghyuck, and now Renjun did the same thing. Jisung wondered who would be the couple that the spell would go for next, the next two people who are in love but can’t seem to find enough courage to confess. The notebook just gives them a little push, et voilà – they get together. Jisung took off his cape with a hum, thinking about the warm bath he was about to enjoy, when he glanced at his bed. There laid a brown, worn out leather-bound notebook. It was pocket-sized and the cover was dusty, its colour fading, making it seem like it was a few years old. No. There was no way. He didn’t touch the notebook, he made sure of it.

Except…

Jisung’s eyes widened as he remembered that incident with Renjun, where he gave him advice on the book. He recklessly touched the book and now the spell was on him, and there was nothing he could do. The one downside to the notebook was that once a person was chosen, the spell couldn’t be broken until they confessed. Luckily enough for Jisung, it also meant that the person he liked surely liked him back. He set the notebook back on his bed and picked up his robe again, heading out to the Hufflepuff dorms. He didn’t need drama nor insecurities, not when he knew Chenle liked him back.

He might as well get it over and done with, then.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm glad you made it here!  
> This fic took me a long time because it was my first time portraying a polyamorous relationship, so i had to really think about how to connect three charecters emotionally instead of the usual two. I enjoyed doing it though, and i hoped you enjoyed reading it!  
> As for the small chensung bit, i was thinking of writing a third part based on them, and how Jisung got to know the notebook and spell, but i don't really know how to write for that ship, so I decided to leave a little sneak peak at what Jisung would do and end it like that.  
> Thank you for reading this!!


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